Mr. President, There Is No (US) Engineer Shortage

McGruber writes "Vivek Wadhwa has written an article in the Washington Post titled, 'Mr. President, there is no engineer shortage,' which addresses the perceived national shortage of engineers. Wadhwa slams China for its practice of applying the 'engineer' label to auto mechanics and technicians, yet fails to slam the U.S. for its practice of applying the 'engineer' label to sanitation workers, building janitors, boiler operators, FaceSpace coders, MSCEs and DeVry graduates. He also says, 'Some of [the U.S.'s] best engineers are not doing engineering, and some of its best potential engineers are not even studying engineering, leaving us short-changed in solving the important problems of the day.'"

Comments

X Engineer

[Haedrian]

"fails to slam the US for its practice of applying the 'engineer' label to sanitation workers, building janitors, boiler operators, "

I knew a woman who used to demand the title of "Domestic Engineer". Also known as "housewife"

Re:X Engineer

[ctrimm]

I knew a woman who used to demand the title of "Domestic Engineer". Also known as "housewife"

You should have told her to go engineer you a sandwich.

Re:Does Not Compute

[larry bagina]

Can the medic build a sentry gun? No. Can the medic build a dispenser? No. Can the medic build a teleporter? No.

There are some good medics out there, and a good medic/heavy combo can wreck your ass worse than goatse, but most of the time a team will have 2 or 3 engineers and not a single medic.

Re:Shortage of engineering jobs,

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is education prices high?

Because students have to keep taking English over and over again, never quite passing it.

Re:Shortage of engineering jobs,

[Hognoxious]

Why is education prices high?

I don't no, why are it?

Re:Shortage of engineering jobs,

[Nefarious Wheel]

Breezing through an English-speaking Indian technology newspaper (Bengali Times), I read an editorial bemoaning the fact that software development work was leaving India for China and other places where labor was cheaper. They complained that the problem of distance from their tech centers, the lack of established development practices, and the language barrier meant that quality would inevitably go down. I inhaled a bit of my breakfast cereal -- it nearly killed me, laughing that hard.